Oral Contraceptive Use Linked to Prostate Cancer

Canadian researchers expressed the need to ascertain whether there is a possible link between oral contraceptive pill (OCP) and prostate cancer. A study has found that the number of prostate cancer cases are directly proportional to the number of women using the contraceptive pill, i.e. higher the use of pills, higher is the rate of prostate cancer. Use of the OCP was significantly associated with the number of new cases of prostate cancer across the world.However, researchers have stressed that there is no strong proof supporting this hypothesis and it could be a fluke finding. Estrogen by-products are excreted in the urine of pill-users, which may contaminate the food chain and drinking water. This could possibly be responsible for the findings. Researchers were also unable to establish a link between prostate cancer and other forms of contraception like intra-uterine devices (IUD), suggesting it is not something that is sexually transmitted or associated with intercourse.

More investigations and close monitoring of environmental levels of oral contraceptive by-products or endocrine disruptive compounds (EDCs) is needed to come to some firm conclusion. The research has been published in the British Medical Journal Open.

Source-Medindia